California Companies Lead Nation in R&D Spending and Performance

According to a new report from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, California spent $77 billion on self-funded business research and development (R&D), accounting for 30% of the total $255 billion of R&D companies conducted and paid for in the United States in 2013.

California is up 5% on R&D spending from the last study performed five years ago. In fact, from 2008 to 2013, California’s R&D performance was growing at a quicker rate than its economy as a whole. This resulted in its ratio of business R&D to GDP to escalate from 2.8% to 3.5%.

Within California, the top two areas of self-funded business R&D performance include the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland area and the Los Angeles-Long Beach area. No single industry dominated in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area, but to no-one’s surprise, computer and electronics manufacturing reigned king in the San Jose-San Francisco- Oakland area.

California isn’t the only state paying big bucks when it comes to research and development. Interestingly enough, only five states make up over half of the total $255 billion spend. The other four include Massachusetts, Michigan, Texas and Washington.

The top ten business R&D performance states are:

California – $77 billion

Massachusetts – $14 billion

Michigan – $14 billion

Washington – $14 billion

Texas – $13 billion

Illinois- $12 billion

New Jersey – $12 billion

Pennsylvania – $10 billion

New York – $9 billion

Minnesota – $6 billion

If you’re a business that pays for and performs R&D in your state, contact us to find out what type of benefits you could receive in the form of tax credits. Click here to learn if your state offers an R&D tax credit on the state level.

The path toward enhanced opportunities and economic growth in Mississippi’s private sector begins in secondary and elementary education, then continues through the workforce training abilities of the state’s astounding community college system and on to the Research and Development (R&D) prowess of the higher education system. [...]